Surgeons Acknowledge Public Interest in Job Conduct

Surgeons Acknowledge Public Interest in How Well They Do Their Job

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) is keen to engage in discussions on a framework for the public release of surgical data.

A recent ruling from the Office of the Ombudsman stated that District Health Boards should be required to make data, relating to the performance of individual surgeons, publically available.

The Medical Council of New Zealand has responded by releasing a discussion paper on the value that such data may provide.

RACS Fellow and Chair of the New Zealand National Board, Mr Nigel Willis, says that the College acknowledges the public’s wish for more information.

He says that surgical data however, must be presented in such a way that is both meaningful and useful.

“Raw data can’t tell you how well a person performs surgery - there are many factors that affect the final result from a surgical procedure besides the skill of the surgeon,” Mr Willis said

“There are many contributing factors such as the general health of the patient when they have an operation, the services available in that hospital and the knowledge and experience of the other health staff involved in that patient’s care.

“Without context, surgical data has the potential to be misleading and harmful. You cannot separate a surgeon from the environment within which she or he works.

“Any framework adopted must be tailored to suit New Zealand,” said Mr Willis.

RACS is currently seeking comment from its surgeons and will soon be responding to the Medical Council of New Zealand on its recently released discussion paper on the value of performance outcome data.

ENDS

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